Gacko

Gacko (Serbian Cyrillic: Гацко) is a town and municipality in East Herzegovina in the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Geography

The municipality covers an area of 736 km² (284 sq mi), making it one of the larger municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The town is near the state border with Montenegro.

History

Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, the town was the seat of a župa (county) of Serbia under the Nemanjić dynasty. In 1276, Serbian prince Stefan Dragutin defeated his father Stefan Uroš I on the Gacko field and took the throne. Gacko was at this time an important commercial centre on the Dubrovnik–Foča route. In the 14th century the region was governed by the powerful Vojinović family. In its turbulent history, Gacko often changed rulers: after the fall of the Serbian Empire, Gacko became part of the Kingdom of Bosnia, and by 1483–85 it had been annexed by the Ottoman Empire into the Sanjak of Herzegovina.

Ottoman period

The burning of Saint Sava's remains after the Banat Uprising provoked the Serbs in other regions to revolt against the Ottomans.Grdan, the vojvoda of Nikšić, organized revolt with Serbian Patriarch Jovan Kantul. In 1596, the uprising broke out in Bjelopavlići, then spread to Drobnjaci, Nikšić, Piva and Gacko (see Serb Uprising of 1596–97). The rebels were defeated at the field of Gacko. It ultimately failed due to lack of foreign support.

Banja Luka

Banja Luka (Serbian Cyrillic: Бања Лука, pronounced [bǎɲa lǔːka]) or Banjaluka (Serbian Cyrillic: Бањалука) is the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the capital Sarajevo and is the largest city of the Republika Srpska entity. Traditionally, it has been the center of the Bosanska Krajina region, located in the northwestern part of the country. It is home of the University of Banja Luka, as well as numerous state and entity institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The city lies on the River Vrbas and is well known in the countries of the former Yugoslavia for being full of tree-lined avenues, boulevards, gardens, and parks. According to the 2013 census the Settlement of Banja Luka has 150,997 inhabitants, while the City of Banja Luka, which represents Banja Luka's wider area (municipality), has 199,191 inhabitants.

Name

The name "Banja Luka" was first mentioned in a document dated 6 February 1494, by Vladislav II. The name is interpreted as "Ban's meadow", from the words ban ("a medieval dignitary"), and luka ("a valley" or "a meadow"). The identity of the ban and the meadow in question remain uncertain, and popular etymology combines the modern words banja ("bath" or "spa"), or bajna ("marvelous") and luka ("port"). A different interpretation is suggested by the Hungarian name "Lukácsbánya", i.e. "Luke's Mine", which is also the meaning of Slovak "Banja Luka". In modern usage, the name is pronounced and usually declined (u Banjaluci) as one word, and often written as such; the citizens reportedly prefer the more correct form with inflected adjective (u Banjoj Luci).